The federal government has asked the World Bank for 109 million Br in loans to compensate properties affected by constructing the Modjo-Hawassa expressway road.

Divided into four segments, the 202.4Km road project was launched six years ago by former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. The Chinese Railway company was awarded the construction project, designed by Techniplan International Consulting, an Italian firm, in partnership with Ethio-Infra Engineering Plc. Ethio-Infra had designed the 72Km Mehal Meda–Alem Ketema road for 3.5 million Br in 2011. Two years later, it was also involved in social and environmental impact assessment and resettlement policies for Modjo-Meqi and Nekemte Bure roads, respectively.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) provided 126 million dollars to finance the first segment from Modjo to Meqi, contracted to the state-owned China Railway Engineering Corporation. The second lot, connecting Meqi with Batu (Ziway), was bankrolled with a 228 million dollar loan from the Export-Import Bank of Korea. The World Bank made 370 million dollars available in credit for the construction of the 57Km from Batu to Arsi Negele towns.

Construction of the 700 million dollars road project began last year, but progress has been impeded by issues with rights of way claimed by property owners, including farmsteads.

According to an environmental and social impact assessment conducted early on, the construction of the four phases was thought to impact thousands of households. The total number of households affected by the entire project was estimated at 3,457. The World Bank asked for assessments on all four lots, disclosed Sengi Dadhi, social and resettlement management team leader at the Ethiopian Roads Administration (ERA).

"The request included preparing a livelihood restoration plan," he said.

A year ago, the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) hired Zelalem Temesgen, a consultant with 20 years of experience, for 1.5 million Br to conduct the assessment.

It revealed that close to 1,000 rural agricultural households in 15 kebeles along the 93Km have been impacted. The report discovered the productivity of these households, comprising 12,500 people in Adami Tulu, Dugda and Arsi Negale weredas, has dropped by half due to the expressway's altering farming and pastoralist activities.

Fifty-five-year-old Warso Eilemo, a father of 24 children from three wives, is one of the farmers whose lives were impacted by the road project. It has redirected water to his property, flooding a quarter of the four hectares he uses to farm maize. He harvests an average of 15qtl from each hectare.

"Flooding hadn't been a problem before the road project," he told Fortune.

The World Bank has approved the assessment and livelihood restoration plan at the beginning of this year. Officials say they expect the financing will be approved in the coming months. The ERA plans to start paying out compensations right after the release of funds by the World Bank and finalise in April 2023, according to Sengi.

“However, compensating the households could take up to two years,” he said.